My husband and I were chuckling last night over the 175 posts on how to pronounce the Pan Pan call. Then we got an even bigger laugh when I claimed that clearly "Pan" is the proper way, and he said he always heard "Pon" :-).....

What do you mean when you write down that the proper way to say it is "pan" or "pon" ? Am I suppose to imagine you saying that?

You are still writing it down using roman characters not sounding it using your vocal cords. It's one's written interpretation of a sound ... what reference are you using to transcribe the sound? Until, as it was already suggested, we start recording and sharing the actual sounds, this discussion is futile ...

"Anytime mariners feel they may be in a dangerous situation, we highly recommend they immediately contact the Coast Guard to make us aware of the problem regardless of how severe it may appear," said Cmdr. Mike Kendall, 17th Coast Guard District Chief of Search and Rescue.

Similarly, I imagine that a shoe salesman might advise us not to purchase shoes on the internet, but always to shop in a shoe store where our footware needs can be properly addressed by trained professionals.

I'm going to insist that not all requests for marine assistance need to be processed by the Coast Guard, despite Comdr Mike Kendall's feelings on the matter. Indeed, the further from shore one ventures, the more likely it is that assistance will come from sources other than the Coast Guard.

Were that not the case, we could all abandon marineVHF, and just program the Coast Guard's number into our cell phones.

Just listen to the real life CG recordings of emergency calls on YouTube, or ask your CG AUX friend. The more serious situation the less formal the call often is. When people are scared or fighting for their life they say what they think is most important in a given moment not what is proper or procedurally correct ... and CG/SAR responds without delay. I don't know about eye-rolling, but I doubt it when the call sounds like a serious life and death situation.

"This is XXX ... we are going down ..." is not that unusual MADAY call.

ehrmm sorry Richard, we are talking about a pan-pan, nothing life and death. Please don't make it into that because that is a completely different context.

That CG PAN-PAN call that sounds to you "pon-pon" sounds to me "pan-pan" ... when I say PAN it sounds very much like that recording. If two of us would argue using written medium, we could do that till cows come home and never agree. Meantime, the sound we are trying to describe using different spelling is more less the same.

That CG PAN-PAN call that sounds to you "pon-pon" sounds to me "pan-pan" ... when I say PAN it sounds very much like that recording. If two of us would argue using written medium, we could do that till cows come home and never agree. Meantime, the sound we are trying to describe using different spelling is more less the same.

All is well ...

Posts 29 & 50 have links to Google translate where you can listen to correct pronunciation

I'm going to insist that not all requests for marine assistance need to be processed by the Coast Guard, despite Comdr Mike Kendall's feelings on the matter. Indeed, the further from shore one ventures, the more likely it is that assistance will come from sources other than the Coast Guard.

Just focusing on the gist of your reply and omitting the snotty part ... I have to agree with you. It all depends on the context ... location, situation, surrounding events.

Posts 29 & 50 have links to Google translate where you can listen to correct pronunciation

We can do it till blue moon ... believe me, when I say PAN, it sounds very much like that Google machine speech ... I would have to have cold and higher pitch to sound nearly identical. Actually, PAN is a word in my native language, and sounds very much like in that Google speech ... which is not that different from CG recording.

Keep in mind that no two human voices are identical, no two human intonations are the same ... add to this individual impediments, language accents, or local dialect influence ... and you are faced with 1001 ways the same "sound" comes out of peoples' mouth. You need to look past this ... or insist that only one digital signature of that sound is correct.